Fast Forward

Alright, after receiving the 10 millionth forward I have to ask "What the heck is the deal with forwarding?"  Do these people think we really want to see all of this junk.  Is it a mindless ritual?  Their hand just hits the forward button.  " I must forward.  I must forward."  I actually took the time to read one today that had the subject The Bail Out.  It was talking about the $85 billion that was used to bail out AIG. They stated that if we assume that there are 200 million adults in the US, and that we take the $85 billion and divided it up among the adults that we would each get $425,000.  Oh how that would be a much better solution to the financial crisis.  What would people do with that money?  Pay off their mortgage.  Pay off their cars and student loans, saving the economy.  Why not do that instead of giving it to the fat cat big business men?  

Think about it a minute.  Yes, it didn't seem right to me either.  If we gave every adult a buck we are at 200 million.  Ten bucks we are at 2 billion.  You see where we are going.  It ends up being $425 and not $425,000.  This guy went on and on about the genius of his plan.  Even after taxes we would have a ton left.  Hasn't this guy heard of google.  Just type  85 billion divided by 200 million and you get 

85 billion divided by 200 million = four hundred twenty-five

I am not in favor of the "bail out".  I think it stinks.  The market is smarter than a room full of economists.  The market has a way of punishing bad behavior and rewarding good behavior.  And I am sick of hearing that there is a possibility that we (the people/government) can make money on this deal.  If it walks like crappy loans and smells like crappy loans chances are that they will be crappy in a few years.  Why are these defaulters all of a sudden going to start paying their mortgage bills?  If it is such a good deal why aren't the rich Saudi kings (or whatever they are called) or Chinese buying up these great deals.  There is money out there.  

No one will make home loans.  Oh really.  There is a bank in the small town in which I live.  I can think of several others.  They are always able to make loans.  Not the zero down, 5.0 interest, no employment or income verification loans, but loans that are based on sound lending practices.  I would bet that there are thousands of these across the country.  When we got the mortgage for our new house we didn't use them.  They couldn't compete with these brokers.  The reason.  They weren't willing to compromise their principles.  Now these big guys are going down and my local bank is still rock solid.  

El Toro Negro

Paper Tigers (or pirates,panthers,bulldogs,raiders,hippos,etc.)

So it is Friday football season across so much of the country.  Every High School in America, or at least most, from the class 1A small town, play both ways, to the super/mega 5A High Schools where they have their own security force complete with bomb squad, has spent weeks (and probably millions of $) preparing for these rituals that supersede practically everything.  How many tons of iron have been pumped, how many dummies (the slide things) have been pushed across practice fields, how many swimming pools full of Gatorade have been gulped, how many $40 under-armor shirts have our tax dollars purchased, how many tons of fertilizer and ant poison have been applied to fields of play, how much carbon have we emitted driving to and from away games, how many pounds of artery clogging fat have been gained by consuming chili cheese fritoe pies at halftime, how many parents of teenage girls have dropped a thousand buck on a cheerleading camp and uniform (how so little material can cost so much) to teach their girls a couple of four word cheers,  just to give us the ability to live vicariously some long ago dream of being the town super stud?  But if we didn't put so much into it I suspect we would be bailing out the baton industry about now.

Please don't misunderstand.  I do enjoy Friday football.  My kids play.  At least my 13 year old plays Jr. High ball.  What I don't like the disproportionate amount of time, money, and reverence that is place on the "Game".  Does the world really revolve around the High School gridiron?   What really is the likelihood that your Johnny is going to play in the NFL?  

Enough of that, for now.  What I started this to say, is, that I find it funny that we send our team out onto the field, the field where boys are made into men, where life's lessons of determination and grit are ground into or boys one tackle at a time, through a portal of paper.  The band is playing, the crowd is screaming, cheers are being volleyed at the other stands, and here comes our team, ready to scare the living bageebees out of the other players, sending them into a state of panic.  And what is the culmination of all of this.  They bust onto the field through an enormous banner of paper.  PAPER.  Oh, but it has something clever written on it.  Couldn't it be a sheet of aluminum siding or something?  Something they had to claw their way through.  That would scare the crap out of me.   Nothing says "We're going to be District Champs" like bursting thru a giant sheet of paper.  

El Toro Negro

Water and Fire

So you know that I work part time at UPS and that my buddy, the one I quote so often, works there as well.  We work part-time and own businesses.  He sells water.  That is to say that the business that he owns services a small town with drinking water.  If you move there and are within his service area, you call him to hook up your water (or drill a well).  The town he services is probably a blog unto itself because of the unique makeup of its residents, known as Hallies.  

They come from all over the country, coast to coast.  They are old and young.  Some have several kids and some are grandparents with their kids moved out.  A great number of them will home-school their kids, some will go the the closest public school.  They all love dogs.  Lots and lots of dogs.  Most of them living with them.  Actually they love animals.  Goats are a favorite, but they have horses and cats too. 

They have a few things in common.  They more than likely are truck drivers (or are the friends of truck drivers that already live there).  The other thing is that they all bought their "ranchette" from a man with the last name Hall.  Hallies.  This man advertises in trucker magazines and promises easy financing.  Usually he will finance the property on a contract for deed arrangement, sometimes selling them site unseen.  Many are used houses, not pre-owned.  Pre-owned would be upscale.  Many are sub standard in construction and unfinished.  

The worst thing about the whole deal is the buyers.  Most of them are hard working people that think they have found a great deal and move to this town only to find the truth, and it is not as good as was promised.  The other side of the story is that this deal also attracts a small sub section of our country that live in a manner unknown to most Americans.  The kind of people that can't afford a car but some how manage to buy a riding lawn mower and then use it to "drive" the two miles to town, trailer in tow (for the groceries).   I will address this sub section from time to time.  

OK  I tell you all of this to get to the point that my Buddy has to deal with this unordinary group of people.  And oh, does he have some stories to tell.  I have the privilege of hearing these stories, whether I want to or not.  You see, we work across a conveyor belt from each other.  During the entire time we work he relates the interactions he has with the Hallies.  

Now water and fire.  My buddy, in the past, did not charge the local fire department for their water at the fire station.  If I remember correctly, he has to provide water for a fire/emergency.  But at the station he would donate the water, that is until he realized the extent they go to keep the fire engines clean.  Super clean.  It got to the point that he was donating the equivalent of many, many hundreds of dollars a year to the fire department.  

So what IS the deal with keeping them so clean.  It is not unique to my buddy's town.  I have seen it other places too.  Does the dirt create such a drag that their response time is diminished?  Does the incredible shine in some way reflect the heat, protecting the firemen?  Or is it a pride thing?  "Hey Freddy Joe.  I saw your truck on channel twelve last night.  Can't seem to keep it clean, can you?"  

I suppose it is more of a boredom issue.  They need something to do to pass the time.  Haven't they heard of sudoku?  Or TV?  Whatever it is it seems excessive.  

El Toro Negro

Do it once and...

My buddy at work is about ten years older than me.  We seem to think along the lines and it has been my blessing to learn from some of his advice.  If I had only listened.

He warned me a while back to be careful of what chores I help with at the house.  Before the ladies get angry I am not saying that the guys should have no chores.  Ask my wife.  She has not done dishes in 15 years.  What I do believe is that men and women don't have to share all chores 50-50.  Some things a woman is just better at doing and vise versa.  My friend meant that once the order of things had been established to be careful what I help with.  If you have drawn any lines be careful not to erase them.

Example:  We have three boys, then two girls, and then another boy.  I changed my share of the diapers with the first three boys.  When our first girl came I was a bit leery of changing her diapers (too many creases and not sure how far to wipe).  So I decided that I would stick to the boys and my wife could handle what ever girls we had.  I did really well until our second girl came.  I'm not sure how it even happened but I screwed up.  Out of the goodness of my huge understanding heart, and the fact that my wife was having a bad day, I changed a diaper on our daughter.  That was it.  That was all my wife needed to see.  It was like blood in the water.  From then on it was, "you changed her yesterday."  I think that the only time she changes a diaper now is if I am more than ten miles away from the house or at work and can't come home.

I not sure why but it NEVER works the other way around.  I can't even get my wife within ten feet of the lawn mower.  Even after I bought one of those zero turn machines.  No pushing.  The garbage, forget it.  Cook on the grill, never.  Change a lightbulb, no way.  Spray round up on the weeds,change a light bulb, get something down from the top shelf (even after I bought her two step stools), squish a bug, heaven forbid.  But somehow I'm not supposed to be embarrassed to buy her "stuff" at the grocery store.

So to all the guys.  Be careful!  Your wife is lying, waiting for you to do something that she normally does, so it can become YOUR job to do and she can call her girlfriend (or go to Becky's Grill, or to the PTO meeting, or whatever).  Do the things you do and do them well.  Hold fast and live well.

El Toro Negro Ha Hablado

  

Gig 'em

This weekend we decided to take our kids, at least our older kids, to some A&M events.  My wife and I both graduated from Texas A&M in 1996.  We love A&M and want our kids, including our exchange student, to experience some of the fun traditions of the school.  

I found out that at 37 I am not as young as I once was.  We were in the middle of a big screen printing order where after we screen print the jerseys we put numbers on with our heat press.  The company that does our screen printing screwed up some of the t-shirts and because they had to fix their problem we didn't get to start putting the numbers on the shirts 'till 7pm.  I had already been up since 3:30.  The heat press blew a fuse almost right away.  It was on of those round fuses about an inch long.  Of coarse I don't have any, the stores in my small town are closed, and Wal Mart is 40 minutes away.  I fiddled with it for awhile and got nowhere.  

We were taking the kids to midnight yell practice in College Station and decided to pick up the fuses beforehand.  The yell practice ended around 12:30 and we were home by 1:45.  Needless to say I was up a full 24 hours before sleeping a few hours.

Then  little league football at 8 am, leave for the A&M v. Miami game at 12, get home from that at 7 pm.  I was going to take the boys hog hunting tonight but I am too tired.  We put it off  'till Tuesday.  

Lying For a Living

You ever hear of youtube?  Well I guess they have something going with Apple because there is an icon on our iTouch for YouTube that came already programed on it.  Anyway, I checked it out while visiting a man about a dog, and found that there is just about everything on there.  People put all kinds of "junk" on youtube.  I may have to venture into that genera some day.  

Matt Damon.  I have enjoyed some of his work.  The Jason Bourne stuff (I read the books and have to say that I am very disappointed, but that is another post)  , Ocean's Twelve, Good Will Hunting, etc.  I don't know his political leanings, although I could guess,  but I found a clip on youtube of an interview he did. He basically was freaking out about Sarah Palin being chosen as the VP of John McCain.  "How absurd" "How ridiculous" and "She's a hockey  mom and she going to have to stare down Putin."  I could not believe what I was seeing.  If I knew who posted it I would give it here but I am sure you can search for it and find it.

Here is the problem I have and it concerns most all of those in the acting profession.  Lets think about what these people do.  They attempt, some with greater success than others, to make us think they are some type of person that they are not.  A doctor, army general, secret agent, or whatever.  They are paid BIG bucks if they are good at convincing us they are something they really are not.  (I have to pause here and give one exception.  George Straight.  He pretty much played himself in Pure Country. I'm sure there are other examples.)  In REAL LIFE this type of behavior might at best be a con, some may even call it lying, and often times it can be criminal.  I once tried to convince an IRS agent that I was really a high ranking government official working undercover and that I was exempt from all taxes.  They didn't seem to think that was funny.  In REAL LIFE a person really does have to go to boot camp, receive training and etc. to be a government agent.  In REAL LIFE people really do have to go to medical school, and pass certain tests proving that they are qualified, to be a doctor.  

I am not sure what makes these actors (or famous singers etc. Go Brittany!) think they are qualified to try and convince the rest of us that they know something more than we do.  Maybe Matt really does think he is some math genius from Boston that knows everything.  Now I truly believe that everyone should become informed and has the right of expression.  Maybe all these actors really ARE that smart and really can do all the things their characters can do.  It is, perhaps, more the fault of the media.  Or, it is ultimately our fault for placing so much importance on these people and demanding "coverage" of what they think.  We give them the stage.  We put them on these high pedestals.  

OK.  Here's my beef.  What I really want to do is to make sure people give heed to those that deserve it.  In the end it is up to us to study and become informed, make up or own mind, ask the right questions of the right people and then pray to God (I literally mean get down on our knees and speak with God) and then support that right person.  If you find that "hollywood" is the best source of reliable information then by all means take what they say as truth.  But if you believe that these people might live I a altogether different world that us, remember that their specialty is making people believe something that isn't true.  

How do we know when they are "acting"?

El Toro Negro

Maybe Old People Do Do It Right (I just said doodoo)

Considering all the crap that has been going on in the financial industry I thought I should comment on what might help.  First, let me say that I find it hard to believe that we are rewarding behavior in this country that is clearly irresponsible, meaning the making of "bad" loans, on both sides.  But to bail them out. If they were allowed to go under, the consumer/investor would demand better lending standards and the gov't wouldn't have to over see them.  Now we have the government with 80% ownership in AIG.  When the gov't owns business isn't there a name for that? hum...  Letting these guys go under might be a hard pill to swallow but it might be the cure we need.  Let the market do it.

I think my mom may have it right.  You see, ever since I was a boy I can remember her with these envelopes that she would use to handle her finances.  She still does it to this day.  I make fun of her but I think if more people would do it we wouldn't see people unable to save a few hundred bucks in a years time.    

When she wants to purchase something or has a bill to be paid she takes a bank envelope and starts puttin' money in.  Once it goes in it doesn't come for anything.  Not a bottle of coke, nail extensions, ringtones (or better yet ringback tones) or anything else.  She doesn't take on a debt unless she is able to get enough in the envelope before she buys it.  I don't know how many times I asked for something as a kid only to be told that there wasn't enough in the envelope or that she would have to start an envelope for what ever it was I thought I had to have.  Most of the time my envelope went to the bottom of the list of ones to get infusions of cash.  How dare her to not indulge my ever desire.  Didn't she know that kids are the ones in charge.  

E Toro Negro

Cooking

I wanted to write quickly that we have invited some friends over and I wanted to post a picture with her in it.  She will flip out when she sees it.  We are have shrimp etouffe', green beans and ham and I'm not sure what else.  I hope to have something more later so don't worry.

My wife is in yellow, our friend in light blue and two of my sons helping.  

El Toro Negro

Too long?

Please, no more questions about where I have been.  As you know, we were involved in hurricane Ike.  While I do feel for those that lost power, or worse, their home, I am greatful that we never once lost power.  On of the greatest things about having moved from "in town" (pop. 719) is that we are no longer on Entergy Power.  When on Entergy, it seemed that every time the wind blew we would lose power.  Imagine, out in the country, with all our trees, more reliable.  

I think it was the Friday, before the storm, I called to upgrade our DSL to the 3.0, what ever that is.  Faster I think.  That's when the fun started for our internet access.  It seemed to slow down.  During the storm we had access and could keep up with the storm by looking at the radar on line.  As soon as the storm was over we lost it altogether.  We just got it back today, after the phone guy was here for a couple of hours.  He said it still is not up to top speed yet, but he has a thousand of other calls to check.  But I have a blog to keep up! 

So, here I am finally back after too long.   I just pray that I get to post regularly.  

El Toro Negro

Hurricane Ike

Well, it is on top of us as I write this.  As of now we have 1.25" of rain and lots of wind.  Yesterday we spent several hours picking up anything that might be picked up and blown into the house.  Wood, boards, toys, yard art (no pink flamingos).  The buckets and kiddy pool were filled with water in case the power goes out for very long.  I cranked the generator and ran it for about half an hour to make sure it was going to work.  I have a cord made up so that I can hook it to the well if I need to.  As of now we still have power but if it goes out I guess we will sleep in the "sewing room" because it has a window unit in it.  We are hearing that there is a cool front coming after the storm so it may not be too bad.  I just hope that the power doesn't go out.  Thankfully we don't have Entergy any longer and now are on a co-op that has been very good about keeping the power flowing.  

We just built a new house.  Moved in in April.  We are praying that all goes well with our family.  My brother in law lives in Beaumont and we are hearing that the water is pretty high and then add the wind.  

Our congregation has been assigned, by the church, a congregation in League City to take in at our building.  They started showing up Thursday.  The men of our congregation are taking turns, 6 hour shifts, acting as building representatives.  My shift was Friday 6pm to midnight. The greatest thing about these evacuees is that they bring all their own supplies, clean up after themselves, and don't think they are "owed" anything.  What a huge difference from the last time we had people come to our high school for Rita.  What a mess.  Some people thing that everything should be done for them.  How about drink one less beer a day and save that money and buy an extra tooth brush, or bar of soap.  Ever heard of a 72 hour kit.  How dare me!  That's the government's job.  

On a lighter note I did write down, during my shift, about thirty new topics to cover here on Glimpses of Normalcy.  So keep checking back from time to time.  Also, I will try and get some more pictures up.

El Toro Negro

New Blogger

I told you that I was new at this blogging thing.  So this post is to test a feature of this site.

Oh, the hat is one of the ones we are working on.  It is the only one I had on my flash drive.  We (my wife) own an embroidery/screen printing business.

PB & J

Well I have already aggravated a buddy of mine that I work with because I wouldn't tell him how to make a PB & J properly while we were working.  I told him that he would have to frequent this BLOG to find out.  How can I build a following if I give away my thoughts for "free".  

The PB & J must contain two pieces of bread that come from the same loaf.  Not only from the same loaf but side by side.  Now, when the two slices are separated they must be stood on edge and then "opened" so that they lay flat, side by side.  

Next, a strict ratio of 2 to 1 must be followed in applying the jelly and peanut butter.  By the way, peanut butter is my favorite word (right now) in Spanish: montequilla de cacahuete. Two parts jelly to one part peanut butter.  The peanut butter goes on first and then the jelly is put on the peanut butter.  It is acceptable to put the jelly on one side and the peanut butter on the other.  What?  I'm not a PB & J Nazi.  

If you chose to put the jelly on the peanut butter then the next step is important if not crucial. The slices must be reunited in the exact same manner they were taken apart.  You will notice that the slices will appear as they did when they were in the loaf.  This will keep the tops uniform and in order.

You want to hear something weird?  When I was in high school we had a Swedish exchange student.  (Don't get me started on Europe.)  They have a product that is designed to keep the jelly and the peanut butter separated.  It is some type of gelatin.  It is about the same size as a slice of bread and is edible.  What a strange way to do PB & J.

This part is also optional but I don't know why anyone would not do this.  You know when you were a kid and your mom would make your lunch for school.  She would make the sandwich and put one of those little bags of chips in the little brown bag.  Well I'm not sure when I started doing this.  I just always have.  I would take the little bag (now I use a super sized family bag of chips), open my sandwich, and dump the chips on top of the sandwich, letting the excess fall off on to my flattened out brown bag that served as my plate.  What a treat.  Still love it.  

Oh, I prefer strawberry jelly.  I don't like the jam.  

El Toro Negro

The iTouch

The iTouch

We just bought a new MacBook.  The promotional deal included a free iTouch.  You buy it and they send you a rebate.  My wife was all over the free ipod.  The kids and I have one but she doesn't like all the classic country or old rock.  I didn't think much of it 'till she got it set up and I found out that it could access our wireless network here at the house.  Up 'till now my bathroom breaks involved a hand held yahtzee game (high score around 730).  The iTouch has a youtube icon and I now take it with me instead of the yahtzee.  Right now I am into "funny".  I can't believe that there is so much stuff on there.  My wife wanted to know why in the world I was laughing so hard while doing my business.  If they weren't $300 I would buy another one and put it on shelf (next to the dusty yahtzee) in my bathroom.  Seeing a cat spinning around, dangling from a ceiling fan only to be thrown off just killed me.  And those Japanese commercials and game shows.  Those guys are insane.

Here We Go

September 10, 2008

My wife thinks I'm crazy for even wanting to start a blog.  I have to give her the credit because she is always giving me a hard time about some, or most, of the things I do.  For example, there is a right way to open and use soda from a two liter bottle or the right way to make a PB & J sandwich.  So I thought I would start with the things she thinks are quirky and then move on to other thoughts such as selling used hoe handles ( a thought brought up by a buddy I work with).  I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post.  I guess it depends on the responses I get.  To tell you the truth I don't know what the heck I'm doing.  I'm not even sure if you can respond.  But if you can, and do, please ask questions and give me feedback.

My life mainly consists of my family.  My wife, six children (4 boys 2 girls) and an exchange student living with us.  Puedo hablar en espanol un poquito pero estoy tratando de aprender mas.  My job(s).  UPS part time and working for my wife's business.  Church.  So, most posts will revolve around topics involving these things.  From time to time, or more frequently, I will delve into politics too.  I have a love of this country (USA) to a fault.  Yes, I know I just lost any chance of having an international following (like I'll have a following).  Oh.  I am NOT very Politically Correct.  I AM very opinionated and don't mind letting you know where I stand on something.

For now, be patient.  I'm told these creatures start slowly.  I will learn the ropes.  

El Toro Negro.